Pullet vs. cockerel x4

[mebberry4]

I was going more by the red coming out in the shoulders. Red in the shoulder/wingbow is a male pattern.

I once had broodies hatch 7 cockerels out of 7 eggs so I can sympathize!

Oh ok.... I was pretty sure she was a black sex link and had no white markings on her head or anywhere else at hatch.... Do you think this could just be a variation on some red breakthrough on a black sex link pullet?

I'm so bummed out I'm online buying sexed day old chicks right now.... This hatch was supposed to be my primary layers next season

 

[chooks4life]

Oh ok.... I was pretty sure she was a black sex link and had no white markings on her head or anywhere else at hatch.... Do you think this could just be a variation on some red breakthrough on a black sex link pullet?

I'm so bummed out I'm online buying sexed day old chicks right now.... This hatch was supposed to be my primary layers next season

While Keesmom is right about it being generally a male pattern, here, the feathers in question are not of male structure; they're rounded and solid color, with normal sheen.

A male with feathers that color on his wings, with the feathers being of the type that males grow after puberty, would have much darker, shinier red feathers there, since the structure of the feathers is different in maturing males than it is in either hens or pre-pubertal males.

Instead of a solid 'U' shaped feather edge, filled with the same color, you would see a dark, solid, shinier 'V' within the 'U', with the remaining edges of the 'U' made up of loose, shiny fringe rather than joined feather webbing. If that makes sense. Often you can see the difference just by holding the bird and comparing the feathers to those beside them, as the male feathers will at first be isolated as they grow in bit by bit, and you can clearly see some have different shapes to them.

He or she is a very odd looking little bird, wonder if there's some game fowl in there. More photos would help, but while overall Bay looks quite gender ambiguous, it's possible it's a pullet.

Bay also had those red shoulders as a chick; if Bay had gone totally black, then grown out those red feathers, that would be more likely a sign of gender than retaining those red ones since hatching. None of your birds look overly typical for their breed as far as I know, barring maybe the EE.

None of your males are showing clear gender-specific feathering yet, though the development is still looking male. That's a bit odd, but development patterns do vary quite widely. The shiny feathers I'm talking about can't be seen on any of your males either, not from my check anyway. Possibly your EE, if you look closely at the dark red feathers, may have some. Asides from that I wouldn't get rid of Bay yet. I don't think he or she is a 'proper' sexlink though, or at least not like any I've seen before, which is pretty normal since they can make up sexlinks from quite varied bloodlines.

Also those shiny blue/green-sheened feathers coming in on its back are more likely to be male than female, but time will tell. Right now, the feathering over Bay's head and neck are all normal for juveniles or some breeds of hens, but then again your other males aren't showing gendered feathering yet either.

Best wishes.

 

[mebberry4]

While Keesmom is right about it being generally a male pattern, here, the feathers in question are not of male structure; they're rounded and solid color, with normal sheen.

A male with feathers that color on his wings, with the feathers being of the type that males grow after puberty, would have much darker, shinier red feathers there, since the structure of the feathers is different in maturing males than it is in either hens or pre-pubertal males.

Instead of a solid 'U' shaped feather edge, filled with the same color, you would see a dark, solid, shinier 'V' within the 'U', with the remaining edges of the 'U' made up of loose, shiny fringe rather than joined feather webbing. If that makes sense. Often you can see the difference just by holding the bird and comparing the feathers to those beside them, as the male feathers will at first be isolated as they grow in bit by bit, and you can clearly see some have different shapes to them.

He or she is a very odd looking little bird, wonder if there's some game fowl in there. More photos would help, but while overall Bay looks quite gender ambiguous, it's possible it's a pullet.

Bay also had those red shoulders as a chick; if Bay had gone totally black, then grown out those red feathers, that would be more likely a sign of gender than retaining those red ones since hatching. None of your birds look overly typical for their breed as far as I know, barring maybe the EE.

None of your males are showing clear gender-specific feathering yet, though the development is still looking male. That's a bit odd, but development patterns do vary quite widely. The shiny feathers I'm talking about can't be seen on any of your males either, not from my check anyway. Possibly your EE, if you look closely at the dark red feathers, may have some. Asides from that I wouldn't get rid of Bay yet. I don't think he or she is a 'proper' sexlink though, or at least not like any I've seen before, which is pretty normal since they can make up sexlinks from quite varied bloodlines.

Also those shiny blue/green-sheened feathers coming in on its back are more likely to be male than female, but time will tell. Right now, the feathering over Bay's head and neck are all normal for juveniles or some breeds of hens, but then again your other males aren't showing gendered feathering yet either.

Best wishes.

Thanks for taking the time to explain all of that, chooks4life.

I was looking at Austrlorps online and saw that they can have a greenish sheen to their feathers. Maybe Bay is a NH roo x Austrlorp mix instead of NH x BR?

I will keep you posted as s/he develops. Thank you again for your help.

 

[chooks4life]

Thanks for taking the time to explain all of that, chooks4life.

I was looking at Austrlorps online and saw that they can have a greenish sheen to their feathers. Maybe Bay is a NH roo x Austrlorp mix instead of NH x BR?

I'm not overly familiar with sexlinks, but I assume the 'BR' stands for Barred Rock? They're usually black and white or grey and white, not red, if I recall correctly --- unless you're talking about those white ones with some red on them (?) in which case, if it's the former type of BR, then where'd the red feathering come from? If it's the latter type of BR, then where'd the solid black come from?

You know what... That's not a great amount of development on any of them for 9 week old males. Development can be a tricksy thing... They can be 'all engines go' right after hatching then stall indefinitely. At this stage there is nothing 100% to say any of them are male though I am betting the EE gets male feathering in first, if he doesn't already have it, I think I see some around the neck but can't zoom in. Generally their earlier development should be reliable but if we're thinking Bay is possibly the only pullet, then why not the others, since their development is about the same, allowing for breed differences? They're a weird bunch, I'd probably hang onto them a bit longer to be sure if I were you.

I will keep you posted as s/he develops. Thank you again for your help.
Best wishes, and you're welcome.

 

[donrae]

Bray is male, sorry. Those red feathers on the wings are male. Females will have red throat/neck/chest, but not wings. In my experience the bird is too young for the absence of sex feathers to indicate gender, it's just being slower to develop.

Of something like 15 chicks I've hatched this year, I have 3 pullets. Oh, and the 3 EE pullets I bought to graft to a broody with a bad hatch rate are actually 2 cockerels and a pullet. Guess we'll be eating a lot of chicken this year

 

[mebberry4]

Bray is male, sorry. Those red feathers on the wings are male. Females will have red throat/neck/chest, but not wings. In my experience the bird is too young for the absence of sex feathers to indicate gender, it's just being slower to develop. 

Of something like 15 chicks I've hatched this year, I have 3 pullets. Oh, and the 3 EE pullets I bought to graft to a broody with a bad hatch rate are actually 2 cockerels and a pullet. Guess we'll be eating a lot of chicken this year 

Is this rule fairly close to 100% accurate? Does it hold true even for barnyard mixes?
It sounds like a bad year for hatching pullets : (
100% roosters is just about the worst
Based on the input I have received here I think I will separate these boys out from my laying hens and raise them as meaties.....booooooo

Thanks for you help

 

[donrae]

Yep, it's a pretty good rule. It's how the male and female genes distribute the color differently. Males are overall brighter, flashy colored, with splotches or splashes of color. They're designed to attract attention. Females are colored in a smoother, more even pattern, and overall more drab. They're designed for camouflage, to blend in and hide. Spend enough time looking at pictures of chickens and you'll develop a decent eye to pick out male and female coloring. There are a few good threads about sexing Easter eggers with good pics, since EE are mixed genetics the guidelines for them follow through to a lot of mixed breeds.

 

[chooks4life]

It's not a 100% rule, obviously, so I guess time will tell. If it's usually fairly close to 100% then statistically speaking you're fairly likely to find it holds true, but statistics are often vague at best anyway... Will be good to know how this turns out.

Best wishes.

 

[enola]

If Bay is NH X BR - he would be barred like his moma.

Sorry, your hatching luck this summer was as bad as mine

 

[chooks4life]

The gender ratio is generally highly dependent on nutrition especially iodine so chances are the parents ran low on it before the breedings which produced all males, since that's generally the main cause, whatever the livestock species. Another potential and common cause is overly young parents being bred, but that still is more likely to produce females among the clutch than very low iodine levels.

Best wishes.